


I Love You

by iwriteinpen



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Airports, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Bittersweet, College, Cute Yachi Hitoka, Declarations Of Love, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Goodbyes, Sad, Strangers to Lovers, True Love, Yachi Hitoka-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 15:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20155681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwriteinpen/pseuds/iwriteinpen
Summary: Airports are ambiguous places. For some, it's coming home. For others, it's a place for goodbyes. For others again it's a place for a welcome back that will never be spoken to anyone after all.This day, this airport is a tragic place and especially for those refusing to say goodbye.





	I Love You

Nothing else matters right this moment. Everything but him has faded into the distance, all the colours to grey and all the sound into white noise.

Except him. 

He’s as bright as ever, a beacon of everything happy.

She remembers every moment ever spent in his presence, every time he’s made her laughter echo through their rooms, every kiss and every I love you. 

She remembers the first time they met. 

*

_She was late. The bus was going to leave without her and then her friend would have to wait even longer for her. Just before the first curse word leaves her lips, she collides with something. She promptly lands on her arse with a _thump. _As she starts to apologize frantically, the stranger starts to laugh. _

_“Are you okay?” he asks once his laughter has stilled._

_She nods and looks at him for the first time. The smile on his lips made her smile. It was the teasing kind, the kind of smile that belongs to a boy with loud, booming laughter. A boy that’s going to make you laugh at three AM until your parents have to ask you to be quiet. _

_It’s a smile that belongs to a boy you’d fall in love with. _

_He puts his hand out for her to take, she takes it and he pulls her up. _

*

That was only six months ago and yet it feels as if she has loved this boy for a lifetime, and she had no intentions to stop doing so. But fate plays cruel games, especially with the hearts of young girls and boys. Fate, she had never believed in it before, but she needed something to blame and something to believe.

Although he’s standing right in front of her, she can barely make him out through the tears clouding her vision. 

This isn’t the first time she is crying in front of him, they’ve been over this so many times. 

“It’s not our fault,” he would say, and she would apologize. Apologize for crying, for dragging him into this mess and for hurting him, and he would hold her, kiss her and whisper, “I love you” over and over again until they fell asleep.

This time is no different as soon as the first couple of tears roll down her cheeks, his arms wrap around her and his lips press to the top of her head. She finds her usual place, arms around him, head buried at his neck, and she feels at home. It breaks her heart.

*

She overpowers every one of his senses. She is everything. The smell of her hair and the feeling of her in his arms are filling his head with memories.

*

_“It’s my fault,” she says, she never yelled, they never yelled. She hated yelling, and he hated when she was sad._

_“Hey…” he reaches out for her, but she turns around. She often did that when she had to think. She couldn’t think straight when he was looking at her, she said. _

_He lowered his arm, as she started scratching hers. He got up from the bed, put his hand on her shoulder and turns her around gently. _

_She still won’t look at him, and she’s still scratching her arm. _

_He grabs her hand, she doesn’t relax, and he starts to rub circles on the back of it to calm her down. _

_“Hey,” he whispers, “it’s all real, I’m right here.” _

_He walks backwards, towards the bed, pulling her with him. She still hasn’t looked at him. He sits her next to him on the bed. _

_“I’m right here,” he says again, hoping she’ll look up. “Just look at me, please.”_

_He’s almost begging her now. It isn’t the first time she has been out of it like this. He hates it, they both do. She always apologizes when she comes back, and he tells her it isn’t her fault. She doesn’t believe him, but she pretends she does. _

_“I’m sorry,” she whispers, barely audible. She’s crying now, and he can’t stand it. _

_“It’s not your fault.” He puts all of his intentions into those four words, hoping she’d understand. _

_“You say that every time, but how can it not be?” she is looking at him now. “I’m going to hurt you, I’m going to leave you, how can it not be my fault?” _

_She wants to believe him, the tears are running quietly down her cheeks now. _

_“You don’t want to hurt me, and you don’t have a choice in leaving.” He tries to explain it to her. He puts his arm around her, pulls her legs over his and holds her close. _

_“I’m so sorry,” she says again, before putting her arms around him and crying into his shoulder. _

*

Right now, with her crying in his arms, he realises that he will never be able to forget her, that she has changed him irreversibly. And his heart stutters. 

She slowly pulls away from him, hands sliding from his shoulders, leaving a trail of fire behind on his skin. She continues until she reaches his hands and when she does, she takes both of them into hers. Her hands clasp his tightly as if she is holding on for dear life. 

Maybe in their case, she was holding on for love, for sanity. 

Her eyes seek his and find them. Here they are, standing in front of each other, tears flowing but with smiles hidden deep inside. Because although their time together had been short, it had been good, it had been oh so wonderful. There had been tears and many hours of worrying, but those hours of worrying and crying would never compare to just one second of her laughter.

*

_She is laughing, loudly. _

_He is smiling at her as if he’d seen the sun for the first time. His hands are at her sides, tickling away ruthlessly. _

_“Stop it,” she breathes out the words with a terrific smile on her face. He continues to tickle her. _

_“Please,” she says, whilst laughing. _

_He finally stops, still smiling. They’re lying on the bed together, facing each other. His one arm is holding her waist, the other under his head. His hand slowly moves from her waist to her neck, caressing her cheek ever so slowly. _

_“I love you,” he whispers. _

_She lights up, her eyes spill happiness on the bedsheet, and her joy hits him like a wall, his heart instantly growing from it. _

_“I love you, too,” she says and the happiness flows over and suddenly they’re both laughing again. He has never been happier. _

*

He kisses her, he kisses her hard, a kiss filled with pleads and love. A kiss begging her to stay, although he knows she can’t. The fire hasn’t left; it still burns from his lips to his stomach. Her lips taste like salt and longing. 

She pulls back, starting time again, and time they do not have. 

“You can’t do that,” she whispers, looking at the floor. “You can’t make me want to stay when I have to leave.” 

He knows that she doesn’t really blame him, she’s just tired. She has been fighting alone for along time. He worries about that sometimes, he worries that she’ll get exhausted from fighting her own head. He worries he’ll lose her completely. Lose her to her mind, to her demons, to the voices telling her she can’t. 

He has been there for a year, slaying those voices every time they came back, and he fears that she may lose herself. 

He hopes she can find her sword again and fight with all her might. He might be selfish but he could never lose her completely. 

They are running out of time. 

He’s just staring at her, taking in everything, engraving it in his brain so he won’t forget. He won’t forget how her eyes, brown with gold hidden everywhere, lights up when she truly smiles. How they almost disappear when she smiles widely. How she bites her lip when she doesn’t know what to say, like now. 

Suddenly, she kisses him again, it’s sweet and light, but it feels divine like it wasn’t their last.

Her lips leave his. A tear trickles down her cheek.

He hugs her again. Holding her tighter.

She’s sobbing. Shoulders shaking.

They’re running out of time.

She pulls back. Takes his hand. Squeezes it.

He looks her in the eyes. He hasn’t cried yet. He never cries.

She looks him in the eyes. She’s crying again. She always cries.

“I love you,” she says. Except it doesn’t sound like I love you, it sounds like “Goodbye.”

“I love you, too,” he says. Except it doesn’t sound like I love you, it sounds like “Please don’t leave me.”

She lets go of his hand, slowly. It’s torture. It’s heavenly. The touch of his skin calms her soul, but the absence of him wreaks havoc in her mind. Her eyes do not leave his. She turns around, away from him and starts walking, shoulders shaking. She looks back once. It breaks his heart.

He goes home and that night he cries.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want, you can [reblog](https://fanfic4u.tumblr.com/post/186847786096/fic-kuroo-x-yachi) on tumblr or check out our [blog](https://fanfic4u.tumblr.com) :)


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